Why Do My Emoji's Show Up As a "Multimedia Message" When I Send Them To People? (Galaxy S4)?

Why Do My Emoji's Show Up As a "Multimedia Message" When I Send Them To People? (Galaxy S4)?

I just updated my Galaxy S4 to 4.4 KitKat and it now has built in emojis on the keyboard. Whenever I send people emoji's it comes up on there phone as a "Multimedia Message" and they cant even view it on their phone. I see the emoji's on my phone when I send them but other people cant see them. Why is that? My friends who have iPhones can text emoji's to each other and they all see the emoji's in the text. It doesn't show up on their phone as a "multimedia message" that has to be downloaded.

Re: Why Do My Emoji's Show Up As a "Multimedia Message" When I Send Them To People? (Galaxy S4)?

Originally Posted by FlatbushPush718

I just updated my Galaxy S4 to 4.4 KitKat and it now has built in emojis on the keyboard. Whenever I send people emoji's it comes up on there phone as a "Multimedia Message" and they cant even view it on their phone. I see the emoji's on my phone when I send them but other people cant see them. Why is that? My friends who have iPhones can text emoji's to each other and they all see the emoji's in the text. It doesn't show up on their phone as a "multimedia message" that has to be downloaded.

Welcome to Android Central
iPhones have had emojis built in for some time now, that's why they can see them when texting each other. You should be able to see theirs and vice-versa now that you are on Kit Kat. Any other phone that isn't on 4.4 or later won't be able to see them. They'll usually show up as an empty square or question mark

Sent from my Galaxy S4 running SlimKat 4.4.2

"We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology." - Carl Sagan

Re: Why Do My Emoji's Show Up As a "Multimedia Message" When I Send Them To People? (Galaxy S4)?

Originally Posted by UJ95x

Welcome to Android Central
iPhones have had emojis built in for some time now, that's why they can see them when texting each other. You should be able to see theirs and vice-versa now that you are on Kit Kat. Any other phone that isn't on 4.4 or later won't be able to see them. They'll usually show up as an empty square or question mark

Sent from my Galaxy S4 running SlimKat 4.4.2

My brother has an android and I sent him an Emoji from my Galaxy S4 (he has the HTC Amaze) and no square or question mark showed up on his phone.. My message showed up but not the emoji. The text showed up with something saying "no subject" on the top as if I was sending him a file or something.

Re: Why Do My Emoji's Show Up As a "Multimedia Message" When I Send Them To People? (Galaxy S4)?

Originally Posted by FlatbushPush718

My brother has an android and I sent him an Emoji from my Galaxy S4 (he has the HTC Amaze) and no square or question mark showed up on his phone.. My message showed up but not the emoji. The text showed up with something saying "no subject" on the top as if I was sending him a file or something.

Do they get converted to MMS when sending to anyone or only for certain people?

Sent from my Galaxy S4 running SlimKat 4.4.2

"We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology." - Carl Sagan

Re: Why Do My Emoji's Show Up As a "Multimedia Message" When I Send Them To People? (Galaxy S4)?

Originally Posted by FlatbushPush718

My brother has an android and I sent him an Emoji from my Galaxy S4 (he has the HTC Amaze) and no square or question mark showed up on his phone.. My message showed up but not the emoji. The text showed up with something saying "no subject" on the top as if I was sending him a file or something.

That's because you did. Emojis are little files. Which is why SMS (which is based on the expanded [= 255] ASCii character set) can't handle them and MMS is required. That and KitKat or higher to make them visible!

But if you and your contacts have smartphones, why not use Instant Messaging instead of SMS and MMS? Which have all sorts of limitations, as you found out, and which always send your messages as mobile data over mobile networks, even when you think you're on WiFi. That eats into your monthly 'dataplan' if you have one. Sending and receiving graphics, a.k.a. media (pictures, videos), and audio via MMS can be an expensive hobby. Because they are usually big files.

There are at least scores of Instant Messaging apps without those expensive effects, limitations and complications, afaik.
Currently (as this could change next week, obviously) I recommend these, in order:TelegramViberKikTangoLINE

They are all free in the Play Store.
Each is a bit different. Viber, Tango, and LINE also offer free 'VoIP' audio and video calls.
Each is used by hundreds of millions of users.

I use Telegram and Viber. Between them they cover all my possible needs. And much more. And I have the other 3 as backup apps. All 5 are installed and tested.

I specifically do not recommend WhatsApp as it 1) isn't free, and 2) is now, since 2 weeks ago, owned by an outfit – Facebook – that is founded on the principle of making money out of publishing as much personal information about people as possible. With the 19 billion bucks acquisition of WhatsApp they now have a treasure trove of personal information of around 400 million people, WhatsApp users, at their fingertips. Of course Facebook has issued statements that they'll never use personal information for commercial gain, and that they don't plan on integrating the two operations (and their data sources) but will keep them separate.
Yeah, right!
That's like trusting the wolf to guard the hen house.

After all, those 19 billion bucks must be recuperated, no?
With a very liberal topping of whipped profit cream, please.

Re: Why Do My Emoji's Show Up As a "Multimedia Message" When I Send Them To People? (Galaxy S4)?

Switch SMS applicaitons. I switch (because of prior experience with it) to "Handcent SMS", and it relays me Keyboard's emoji as a standard text message to my Wife's One M8 on stock android with no problem. It's specific to Samsung's messaging app.

Re: Why Do My Emoji's Show Up As a "Multimedia Message" When I Send Them To People? (Galaxy S4)?

Switch SMS applicaitons. I switch (because of prior experience with it) to "Handcent SMS", and it relays me Keyboard's emoji as a standard text message to my Wife's One M8 on stock android with no problem. It's specific to Samsung's messaging app.

The SMS protocol doesn't support emoji... any emoji is going to be sent as an MMS no matter what messaging app you're using. Odds are Handcent just doesn't readily display that it is sending as an MMS.

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